It was only a few weeks ago that ZTE announced the name of its crowdsourced phone that the community selected: Hawkeye. At that time, we only knew a few specifications, such as screen size, resolution, and a few of the features. Today, the Chinese manufacturer has released a full list of specs for the device. Without further ado, let's take a look.

Specs

Display

5.5" FHD 1920 x 1080

CPU

Snapdragon 625 @ 2.0GHz

RAM

3GB

Storage

32GB, expandable via microSD card

Cameras

dual 13MP/12MP rear with optical zoom and OIS; 8MP front

Battery

3,000mAh; Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0

Software

Android 7.0 Nougat

Connectivity

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac dual-band; LTE bands 2/4/5/7/12/13/66; dual SIM

Features

Fingerprint sensor, eye-tracking, NFC, Hi-Fi audio

So this list gives a much better view of the Hawkeye. Considering that the Kickstarter price is set at $199.00, this is one hell of a phone. Even though it looks great on paper, there is still the software factor to consider. The phone will launch with Nougat, but whatever sort of tomfoolery ZTE will do to it is anyone's guess. Who knows, maybe there will be some positive changes in that regard going forward.

The Hawkeye is expected to ship in September, so we're a ways off.

Press Release

RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ZTE USA, the fourth largest smartphone supplier in the U.S. and second largest in the no-contract market,* today announced specifications for Hawkeye, which will include Android N, the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 625 processor, a large 3000mAh battery and dual-rear cameras among more. For a limited time, the phone can be funded on Kickstarter for $199.00 at kickstarter.zteusa.com.

Keeping with the crowdsourced theme for Hawkeye, ZTE also announced that consumers can choose among 15 different options for the color and material of the phone by voting at csx.zteusa.com.

“With Hawkeye, we are challenging the way devices are developed by integrating the consumer throughout the entire process and letting them decide what the end product will ultimately be,” said Lixin Cheng, chairman and CEO of ZTE USA. “After letting the consumer choose that as well as the name, we are continuing to crowdsource the phone by letting consumers choose the final color and material.”

Hawkeye Specifications

Android N: Out of the box, Hawkeye will be run on the latest operating system

Powerful Processor: Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, the Hawkeye can handle all your surfing, streaming and swiping needs

Battery: Fitted with a large 3000mAh battery, Hawkeye will last a full day’s use and offer a Type C charging port and Qualcomm Quick Charge™ 2.0 for fast charging

Dual SIM and Expandable Memory: Unlike most phones in its price class, Hawkeye will come with dual SIM capabilities or the option for expandable memory up to 256GB

Large Screen: Featuring a 5.5-inch screen to enhance the phone’s viewing experience, especially when using the self-adhesive hands free case

Network: The Hawkeye will initially be equipped with these bands, but could expand depending on consumer demand

GSM bands: 850/1900/900/1800

UMTS/HSPA: 850/1900/AWS/2100

LTE bands: B2/B4/B5/B12(MFBI)/B7/B13/B66

Features: Hawkeye will be integrated with a rear-fingerprint sensor, Hi-Fi sound and NFC capability among others

For a full list of phone specifications and features visit Kickstarter.zteusa.com. To learn more about ZTE and to keep up with the latest Project CSX developments visit csx.zteusa.com or to become a member of Z-Community, visit community.zteusa.com.

The Fire phone eye tracking used four cameras and it was for the somewhat gimmicky 3D effect. The eye tracking on this phone is more like the Samsung one that in their case it's only used for scrolling and smart stay.

No, the Firephone used it for tracking, too - that's what I liked it about it.
It would keep the display on (or turn it off) as long as you were looking at it even in the dark.

I never used the 3D bullshit, and could only tolerate the Firephone for about 4 days.

Max

Oh ok, I never tested it for tracking (I barely used the phone) but I used it on Samsung and didn't find it useful.

Heiro78

A supposed feature that the original team that made the phone concept is to have stock android. but that was kind of tacked on after the fact that there was a rival concept making waves solely on the stock android idea. but this phone would never have it because custom software would have to be created for the eye tracking functionality.

vn33

LTE Band 66! Freedom Mobile users in the Great White North rejoice!

Andy

Verizon as well?

silver_arrow

Nope.

Ultra Sage

IR Blaster :(

Max

This phone looks like made by teenagers for teenagers. Don't be surprised if the Kickstarter don't reach the target even though at that price it should be able to do it. By the way Samsung already implemented such eye tracking and scrolling feature and in my opinion it's useless.

This is what people want is a phone with two year old specs (almost three years when it ships)? QC 2.0? Eye-tracking? OK...

This thing will have a horrible skin and a bunch of extra crap apps installed that nobody voted for so what's the point again?

Kenneth Porter

$200 is the point. Good hardware sheet for the price. Most of us around here want something better but I know plenty of ppl who would like this. Their skin actually isn't bad. I have an axon 7 and It's more out of the way and stock looking than touchwiz and plenty of other skins

i mean, if you're comparing skins to touchwiz ofc it's better, but that's not hard to achieve so it's a useless metric.

try motorola, or oneplus

Kenneth Porter

A lot of people have raved about how slimmed down and nice touchwiz is now which is why I made the comparison. Even the reviews here at AP. Anyone who likes stock that spends time with touchwiz knows that's a lie though. TW is fine but far from out of the way

I like stock (google nexus/pixel) and near stock (Oneplus, motorola for example), and from my understanding ZTE is neither

Kenneth Porter

Lol I like stock too. I Only had nexus and phones with stock roms before my Axon 7. ZTE isn't as close as moto or oneplus, but still pretty close to stock. Much closer than htc, lg, etc

Timothy Vreeland

Don't ZTE phones usually have near stock skins? My daughter owns the ZTE Zmax Pro, running Marshmallow, and it looks just like stock Marshmallow.

jonathan3579

Ironically, their carrier devices have a lighter skin than the Axon 7. (Which is still a pretty great device and getting somewhat slimmer on Nougat.)

instinct

I don't see much advantage of this phone over the $150 Nextbit Robin.

NavyVeteran

5.5" is for the small handed Trump supporters. Thats too small of a phone for normal people with normal sized hands. I'd like to see at the very minimum a 5.8" to 6" screen size. Anything less is uncivilized.

m477

/s?

Kenneth Porter

Lmao dude really. No need to bring politcs or insult people in here. Many people feel like that is massive and they have a right to that opinion

And you have just brought a lot of dishonor to all Navy veterans. Congrats.

Matthew Bowe

This has to be /s.

Xenotrumpet

Nice bait

kgptzac

Crowdsource.... midrange... do people really care enough about getting a midranger phone?/?

jonathan3579

I'm sorry but I still think this is the dumbest fucking thing ever. Could people not actually vote for things that would be useful? These are gimmicks at their finest.

Heiro78

the problem arose about support for the team more than for the idea. there was a little incident where people in support of the stock android idea came over from xda forums and starting voting in droves for it, the people supporting this eye tracking idea thought there was cheating and then either increased the visibility for that idea or started creating accounts to support it.

JPLoureiro

I was 3D modeling an idea of mine to enter the contest, but after seeing so many conflicts and drama, I just stopped caring.
Why bother? For a slim chance of earning a few bucks and still getting bashed by a bunch of idiots?
Thanks, but I'll keep working on my idea by my own.

Matthew Bowe

Does it have an IR port?

Arysyn

I use to be the top-ranked member on the Z-Community for several weeks after it went public with its initial sweepstakes for a free Axon 7 to the top 5 contributors. I spent several hours on their community and easily got the top spot by being a positive contributor to that community.

But then after they opened up the site for general life topics beyond just tech-talk, I had a few of my posts discriminatively deleted from there, despite not breaking any of the rules, which the staff even admitted to me, just that one of its members were "uncomfortable" about topics pertaining to serious health matters.

The after awhile with the staff lying to its membership, along with lots of delays to a bunch of things, the staff didn't like me defending its membership against what I previously had done a lot of defense for ZTE on there. i got some rather suspicious threatening emails from what appears to be them, and I put up a notice to people on the site about it, politely, no accusations or anything, then got banned.

Oh, and the Axon 7 I won in the contest, it took several months for delivery of it, which only happened after I contacted several corporate execs at ZTE and had to get a family lawyer involved. ZTE and its Z-Community are very shady. The only good thing is they managed to send me a working Axon 7, despite all the various reports of its issues.

Heiro78

hmm, sorry for that experience. i got involced in the z-community because of csx and during the second round i was posting in all manner of locations about each project. after the 2nd round closed they awarded me with $100 for being top commentator. because of the toxicity of the 2nd and 3rd round i kind of removed myself from it. there were some people who would go too far in their rage fits.

JPLoureiro

At least there's stone sort of activity in the US Z-community.
The German Z-community (the only European hub available for its customers, and only available in German... !!!) looks like a place where posts go die alone.